Review: ‘Don Pasquale’ Returns to the Met, With a Bravura Aria and More

Levente Molnar as Dr. Malatesta and Eleonora Buratto as Norina in “Don Pasquale” at the Metropolitan Opera.CreditSara Krulwich/The New York Times

Two years ago at the Metropolitan Opera, the Mexican tenor Javier Camarena absolutely nailed a bravura aria in Rossini’s “La Cenerentola,” setting off an ovation that would not stop until he repeated its flashy final section — a rare occurrence of an aria encore at the Met.

On Friday night it nearly happened again. Portraying Ernesto in Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale,” Mr. Camarena excitingly sang the elaborate bel canto aria “E se fia che ad altro oggetto,” capped by a fearless high D flat. As Mr. Camarena’s Ernesto rushed offstage, having vowed to seek solace from heartbreak in faraway lands, the audience broke into such a frenzied ovation that I thought he just might return for an encore performance. That’s what the audience clearly wanted. But he stayed backstage as the staging dictated, and the performance continued.

This was his first Met appearance since that brief run in “Cenerentola.” He sang with evenness throughout his range, with tender pianissimos and, when called for, with engaging feistiness. It’s good to have him back.

Other news was made as well with this revival of Otto Schenk’s charmingly traditional 2006 production. The Italian baritone Ambrogio Maestri sang his first Don Pasquale, bringing his powerhouse voice and larger-than-life presence to that touchstone role, a crotchety old bachelor in mid-19th-century Rome who, fed up with Ernesto, his footloose nephew and heir, foolishly decides to disinherit the young man and to take a wife. The bright-voiced, vivacious Italian soprano Eleonora Buratto had a rousingly received Met debut as Norina, the young widow who loves Ernesto. The conductor, Maurizio Benini, a bel canto specialist, drew animated and stylish, if sometimes overpowering, playing from the Met orchestra.

Even with his tall, hefty physique, Mr. Maestri, a compelling actor, is surprisingly light on his feet. This rumpled Pasquale, his gray hair a mess, has let himself and his villa fall into a shambles. At the start, he nervously awaits his reliable physician, Dr. Malatesta (the muscular-voiced baritone Levente Molnar), to seek advice about getting married.

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Ambrogio Maestri, left, as Don Pasquale and Javier Camarena as Ernesto in “Don Pasquale,” at the Metropolitan Opera.CreditSara Krulwich/The New York Times

Malatesta, who is friends with Ernesto, suggests the perfect bride: his sister, fresh from the convent. It’s all a ruse to teach Pasquale a lesson. Malatesta convinces Norina to play his sister and to hoodwink the gullible Pasquale into a phony marriage contract. Once the papers are signed, the innocent bride becomes a bullying, shrewish spendthrift, a transition that is nicely handled by Ms. Buratto.

Mr. Maestri plumbed the serious core of this comic masterpiece by playing the role straight. Pasquale emerged as haplessly foolish yet endearingly vulnerable. In the midst of a fiery argument with her “husband,” Norina slaps Pasquale. Mr. Maestri looked stunned and humiliated. “È finita, Don Pasquale,” he sings, meaning, “It’s all over for Don Pasquale.” I will not soon forget the aching way he sang these mournful lines.

And who knows? As the run continues, maybe audiences will demand an encore of Mr. Camarena’s big aria.

“Don Pasquale” runs through March 18 at the Metropolitan Opera; 212-362-6000, metopera­.org.